visakhapatnam l monday l may 19, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION CJI Gavai flags protocol lapse during his Maharashtra visit The CJI expressed displeasure over the absence of Maharashtra’s Chief Secretary, Director General of Police or city police commissioner to receive him Top officials fail to turn up to receive cji ‘All three pillars of democracy equal’ “If the Chief Secretary, Director General of Police or Mumbai Police Commissioner does not want to come there, when the CJI, who is from Maharashtra, has arrived for the first time, it’s up to them to think about whether it is right or not,” Chief Justice of India B R Gavai said on Sunday during his first visit to the state after being elevated to the top post ■ ■ Gavai was in Mumbai for a felicitation programme by the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa. At the ceremony, Gavai said he did not want to pinpoint such small issues, but stressed that all three pillars of democracy are equal and must show and give respect to one another CJI said he felt the need to mention it so that people know about it May 14 When Justice B R Gavai was sworn in as the 52nd Chief Justice of India CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI 8 kids among 17 of family Ashoka Univ prof held for social media post killed in Hyderabad blaze H a r p r eet B a j w a @ Chandigarh Preliminary probe suggests short circuit may have triggered the fire 8 dead in fire in Solapur CHI T HA L U RI R E VA N T H @ Hyderabad A fire that broke out early Sunday morning at a house near Gulzar Houz, less than 100 metres from the historic Charminar monument in Hyderabad, left 17 people dead — among them eight children who were visiting their grandparents for the summer holidays. The fire occurred in the residence of Sri Krishna Pearls owner Prahlad Modi — a threestorey building that has the jewellery store on the ground floor and family living quarters above. Of the 21 people reportedly present in the house at the time, only four survived. Many of the deceased belonged to the same extended family, spanning three generations. Fire department officials said six victims died due to suffocation while 11 suffered fatal burn injuries. Preliminary reports suggested a short circuit at a power meter may have triggered the fire. Among the dead were 75year-old Modi, his wife Munni, their children and grandchildren. Most victims were found unconscious when fire personnel reached them. They had reportedly retreated into rooms in a desperate attempt to escape the heat and smoke. Eyewitnesses described seeing smoke billowing from the building around 6.15 am. Locals attempted rescue efforts before fire personnel arrived. They also used private vehicles to rush the injured to hospitals as ambulances were delayed. Eight persons, including three women and a child, were killed in a massive fire at a textile factory in Maharashtra’s Solapur district on Sunday, officials said. Prima facie, a short in the circuit triggered the blaze around 3.45 am at Central Textile Mills situated on the Akkalkot Road in Solapur MIDC, around 400 km from Mumbai Video grab of fire fighters in action after a fire broke out in a building in the Old City area of Hyderabad on Sunday | Express Fire Services Director General Y Nagi Reddy said the building’s layout hampered evacuation efforts. A single staircase, less than a metre wide, served as the only access to upper floors. The absence of alternative exits or exterior ventilation complicated rescue efforts. Officials said the use of combustible wooden panelling in the house also contributed to the rapid spread of fire. Locals claimed electrical issues were frequent in the building, with short circuits report- ed on earlier occasions. The fire department said the first alert was received at 6.16 am and the first unit reached the scene within four minutes. Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy ordered an investigation into the incident. Deputy CM Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka visited the site and announced an ex gratia of `5 lakh for each victim’s family Prime . Minister Narendra Modi and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi also conveyed their condolences. V’nagaram engg grad held for ISIS module terror bid P h a n i n d r a Pa pa s a n i @ Vijayawada 4 children die of suffocation in locked car, hunt on for owner E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vizianagaram In a heart-wrenching incident, four children, including three girls, died of asphyxiation after they accidentally got locked in a parked car in Dwarapudi village of Vizianagaram rural mandal, on Sunday . The children’s family members found them in the car in the evening after searching for over three hours in the village and surrounding areas. They retrieved the children by breaking the car’s windows. However, by then, all four had died due to suffocation. The deceased children were identified as Mangi Uday (8), Burle Charumathi (8), Burle Charishma (6), and Kandi Manaswini (6), all from the same village. Tragically Charumathi and Charish, ma were siblings. According to sources, an unidentified person had parked his car near the Mahila Mandali office in Dwarapudi village two days ago. He apparently forgot to check whether the car was locked. On Sunday, the four children, while playing, entered the car to take shelter from the rain. Unfortunately, the car door locked accidentally Due to the searing heat and . lack of oxygen, the children P3 died of asphyxiation. More shocking facts are tumbling out in the investigation pertaining to the Vizianagaram youth Siraj-ur-Rahman (29), who was arrested by Vizianagaram police in a joint operation carried by Central intelligence agencies and counterintelligence (CI) wings of both Telugu states Andhra Pradesh and Telangana on Saturday night. The 29-year-old engineering graduate was born in a police family . While his father works as an assistant sub-inspector of police (ASI) in Vizianagaram district and his elder brother is an armed reserve (AR) constable. The family is suspected to have migrated from the regions, which are now part of Bangladesh. Soon after the arrest, Vizianagaram police took both his father and brother into their custody and questioned them about the activities of Siraj. During the preliminary investigation, it was revealed that Siraj was attracted towards extremism and met several likeminded people like Saeed Sameer, while working in Hyderabad. He met them through social media messaging platforms like Facebook and also found to have posted several posts in support of Pakistan. Reportedly, he became ISIS sympathiser and joined them where he was given training on bomb manufacturing. After some time, he left Hyderabad and came to his native Vizianagaram to avoid suspicion. Later, Siraj had procured explosive materials online and manufactured one small sized homemade improvised explosive device (IED), and did a trial in a forest area in Rampachodavaram. The entire act was recorded and sent to Sameer and another person P4 in Saudi Arabia. Days after the Haryana State C o m m i s s i o n f o r Wo m e n (HSCW) issued a show-cause notice to Ashoka University associate professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad for his social media post on Operation Sindoor, the Haryana Police arrested him from Delhi on Sunday . The police were acting on two FIRs filed against him based on complaints by Yogesh Jatheri, a BJP Youth Morcha leader and Renu Bhatia, HSCW chairperson. Narender Kadyan, Deputy Commissioner of Police, said Mahmudabad will be produced before a local court and the police will seek his remand for further investigation. As for Ashoka University, it said it “will cooperate with the police and local authorities in the investigation fully’’. On May 12, the HSCW took suo motu cognisance of the post and summoned him to appear before it. In a statement on May 14, Mahmudabad said, “My lawyers have submitted a detailed Andhra Pradesh recorded a 21.83% decrease in large forest fire events between January and May 18, 2025, compared to the same period in 2024. According to the Forest Survey of India (FSI), the state reported 874 large forest fire incidents in 2025, down from 1,118 during the same period last year. In the entire year of 2024, Andhra Pradesh recorded 1,135 large forest fire events, placing it second in the country after Uttarakhand, which had 1,282 incidents. Odisha stood third with 1,128 large forest fire events. From January 1 to May 18, 2025, FSI recorded a total of fia Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh for a press conference, highlighting that the dream of our Republic’s founders — of an India united in its diversity — remains very much alive.” In its pushback, the Faculty Association of the university strongly condemned the arrest “on groundless and untenable charges”. After his arrest in Delhi, he was taken to Sonipat, not allowed access to necessary medication, and driven around for hours without any communication about his whereabouts, the association charged. IMF tightens Pak bailout terms DIPA K M O N DA L @ New Delhi Amid India’s assertions that Pakistan will use a large part of the foreign aid it receives to fund terror activities, the International Monetary Fund has tightened its purses by imposing fresh conditions on Islamabad for availing its loan facility, while flagging “reputational risks” from misuse of funds. “Enterprise risks have increased. The rising tensions between India and Pakistan, if sustained or deteriorate further, could heighten enterprise risks to the fiscal, external and reform goals of the program. Reputational risks could also come from any perceived lack of evenhanded or if there was a perceived misuse of Fund disbursements,” IMF said in a note on Pakistan, released on Sunday . The new conditions put forth after a staff level review of the bailout package range from energy to governance reform, tax system overhaul, as well as phasing out of incentives to industry parks. One of the conditions is approval by Pak Parliament of a $ Rare setback for PSLV as it fails to place sat in orbit B o s k y K h a nn a @ Bengaluru An inexplicable fall in pressure in the motor case chamber of the third stage of the PSLV-C61 rocket prevented the 101st mission of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) from successfully releasing an Earth Observation Satellite, EOS-09, in its intended orbit on Sunday This was rare . failure of the otherwise reliable PSLV . The four-stage PSLV-C61 lifted off at 5.59 am from the First Launch Pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota. Till the second stage separation at 4.36 minutes after launch, everything was fine. Despite igniting perfectly “during the functioning , of the third stage we are seeing an observation and the mission could not be accomplished,” said ISRO chair man V Narayanan. Had there been no glitch, EOS-09 would have separated from the rocket’s fourth stage at 17.654 minutes after launch and glided into a Sun Synchronous Polar Orbit at an altitude of about 534 km. It was the 63rd flight of the PSLV and the 27th using the PSLV-XL configuration. The third stage motor used a solid propellant, hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB), which serves as a binder of other oxidizers. Experts explained that pressure in a rocket motor’s combustion chamber could fall due to possible change in the burning rate and surface area of the propellant, or from issues within the nozzle, like decreased burning surface area or erosion of nozzle throat, which can lead to reduced thrust, and failure. ISRO will be probing these issues now, scientists said. Large forest fires show a decline in State U s h a p e r i @ Visakhapatnam reply to these summons and represented me before the Commission today May 14, 2025. The , screenshots attached to the notice make it clear that my remarks have been completely misunderstood and that the Commission has no jurisdiction whatsoever in the matter.” The summons fail to explain how the p o s t v i o l at e s a ny rights of women, he said. “Contrary to the allegations, my post appreciated the fact that the armed forces chose Colonel So- 12,037 fire incidents in the State, based on satellite data from SNPP and MODIS sources. Andhra Pradesh ranks fourth in the country for fire alert registrations with 21,570 entries, following Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, and Jharkhand. Local forest officials said that fire prevention and control measures are actively being implemented. Fire lines are being created to stop the spread of flames by removing combustiP4 ble material. State ranks fourth AP ranks fourth in fire alert registrations in country with 21,570 entries, following MP, HP and Jharkhand. PKR 17.6 trillion budget—of which PKR 1.07 trillion should be for capex. Pakistan is also required to overhaul agriculture taxes and establish systems for processing tax returns, taxpayer identification/registration, public awareness campaigns, and compliance strategies. Besides, it will have to remove the PKR 3.21/unit ceiling on electricity surcharges. Earlier this month, the Washington DC-headquartered lending agency had approved a $2.4 billion bailout package to Pakistan despite strong protests from India against doling out money to Islamabad. Delegation Khurshid awaits cong nod; Akbar back in play Congress leader Salman Khurshid said his party will take a call on his participation in the diplomatic delegation to be sent to various countries to expose Pak terror. Former Union minister M J Akbar is part of the team that will brief European leaders | P7